Are antennas altered in the presence of carbon fiber masts?

Very very practical demonstration... thanks for your time! .'.

 

I'm an aviation wanabee. But I don't fantasize about the big transports. Go ahead, say something about the 787. I fantasize about little LSA's like the Phoenix CH-750. So beautifully simple and clean. I worked on the C5A once. Don't fantasize about flying that beast. As soon as the apron is clear I'll invest in a new MS Flight Sim and maybe build a cockpit if the ambition is there. Flying has always been in dreams, even before aircraft. So day dreaming of aircraft isn't too strange.

 

Sometimes it's how you say it not what you say?

 

Nice work, very interesting.

Most of us use these carbon fiber masts for SOTA activations, which means HF: 40m, 20m, 17m and 15m are the are the most popular bands with present conditions. I wonder what, if any - effect the CF mast would have at those frequencies? I'm guessing minimal at best.

Any way you can try this same test on HF using a short loaded or ATU tuned vertical?
W1LJ

 

Yes I can. Let me work on a solution.

 

Is 10m good enough or shall I try something much lower. 30m may be easy enough since I already have an experimental dipole for 30m.

 

They now have metal-like materials that encourage laminar electron flow. Stay tuned for exciting new developments.

 

I''ve built a couple of carbon fiber dipole antennas for 10m. Worked alright if this helps you.

 

You tried the test on 10m and it was OK? Great! If KX4O is able to try it on 30m as he mentioned...so much the better. With those two bands I think we could come to a pretty safe conclusion that HF and carbon fiber are happy bedfellows.

 

Are you saying you built the dipole elements from carbon fiber composite?

 

We need to understand what he meant. From his description he appears to have made the active elements with CFC poles.

 

Or more likely it was a rotatable dipole with wire elements lashed to the CF poles...

 

Meter tells you one thing real life use tells me other. I use a Carbon 6 mast for field operation. 100% qrp SSB 6 whiskies or less. 20m 40m sloped and inverted V configs. I live in MI. and have made strong contacts all over the country and Canada. When conditions are good I have reached across the pond with ease. Let all keep in mind. When using the mast your wire is not parallel with the mast. Like an inverted V it crosses. My findings are the mast being carbon does interfere but in my configuration that is so small you really cant see it. In the vid the way he was testing it would be a vertical. The mast is not tall enough to use it in a vertical configuration. To finish, if you are making great contacts forget the science and have fun. To get my carbon you will need to pry it from my cold dead hands.